Recently, implementation of the internet of things (IoT) wherein various devices and sensors are coupled to a network is being advanced. Although some devices have a function for directly coupling to the Internet through a mobile network, a wireless local area network (LAN) or the like, also there are devices which are coupled to and used together with a nearby smartphone or the like using a low power consumption near field wireless standard such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) or Zigbee (registered trademark). For example, among such devices as weight scales or sphygmomanometers that operate with a battery, some devices have a mechanism that enables coupling by Bluetooth only when a result of measurement is obtained thereby.
Meanwhile, a smartphone or a personal computer (PC) may be coupled to the Internet by a mobile network or wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) to access a server using a Web technology (a communication protocol such as hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) or WebSocket and a programming language such as hypertext markup language (HTML)/JavaScript) and use a service provided by the server. Since various services are provided using the Web technology, a very great number of engineers may handle the Web technology. Therefore, it is expected that it promotes utilization of devices that various devices may be accessed from a client such as a smartphone or a PC by the Web technology.
Therefore, an investigation of a method of coupling to a device by a Web technology called as, for example, web of things (WoT) by world wide web consortium (W3C) is being conducted. Also a gateway for performing protocol conversion such that such a device that uses Bluetooth as described above may be accessed by the Web technology is being investigated. The gateway has a function of accessing a device as occasion demands based on an access received from a client and transmitting, when information is received from the device, the information in an appropriate format to the client as occasion demands.
On the other hand, there is a technology which includes a plurality of interfaces and increases accessible devices by installing a device driver by plug and play. According to the technology, devices that may be handled from a service provided by a server change dynamically, and acquisition of a device driver suitable for a service may be facilitated. However, this technology is not a technology that gateways (protocol-converts) a Web application programming interface (API) access and is difficult to apply to WoT described above.
As an example of related art, Japanese National Publication of International Patent Application No. 2009-536415 is known.